High-rise developers defend their project

ERIKA McDONALD

Published
7:00 pm CDT, Wednesday, October 3, 2007

Under fire from residents who oppose the project, developers Matthew Morgan and Kevin Kirton, the developers behind the planned Bissonnet high-rise talked to the Examiner about their project. Portions of the interview have been excerpted verbatim:

Examiner: Were you expecting this level of intensity from your opposition?

Morgan: We knew there would be opposition. We grew up in the neighborhood. I grew up in Boulevard Oaks, Kevin grew up in Southampton and we spent our childhood running around the steam tunnels at Rice University and climbing on the rooftops of buildings here.

We have a very strong attachment to the neighborhood. This is just a philosophical difference over what is right for this particular site in this particular neighborhood. We are certainly sensitive to the concerns of the residents and we hope to assuage as many of the fears and doubts as possible.

We also, by virtue of this strong bond and affection for neighborhoods, have same sort of feelings for the site. We believe the site needs a very well thought out almost iconic and special project like this.

Examiner: What makes it special?

Morgan: It represents the type of development that you see in a lot of the cutting edge cities in the inner city where you have mixed-use development that is primarily residential in nature, but also provides lifestyle option such as a little bit of retail, a little bit of entertainment, an office space combined in a pedestrian focused environment that encourages people to leave their cars and walk.

Examiner: Have you studied the market to determine there is a demand in the area for this type of housing?

Kirton: Yes. The (employment) growth in the Medical Center is so compelling that if we weren’t building this someone else would come along with a project like it. It’s going to be a lot of single and married professionals working downtown and in the Med Center.

Examiner: Beyond medical professionals, who do you envision living here?

Morgan: Well, for example, people who live in Sugar Land now and commute to their job in the Medical Center can live and walk to the Medical Center. People who live now in the Woodlands and drive all the way in to go to a museum would be able live and walk to the Museum District.

Kirton: Even people who already live in the neighborhood, especially if they’re retired or they live in a larger home and are looking to downsize, can do so without having to leave the neighborhood. They can live in a high-rise building more suitable for their new lifestyle, which involves not maintaining a home.

Morgan: People who want to have their cake and eat it, too.

Examiner: Can you describe the neighborhood amenities that will be offered to those who don’t live in the tower?

Morgan: (Pointing to a diagram) Here’s a 50-foot pedestrian plaza with trees, a fountain, maybe a piece of public art or two, covered tables, retail areas and a full-serve neighborhood restaurant. This won’t be a restaurant like Chili’s, it will be a one-of-a-kind place. There will also be a gourmet market, and you’ll have two rows of live oak trees.

Examiner: Speaking of trees, some residents are concerned about the current trees dying in the shadow cast by your building. There was also an audible laugh (in the Poe cafeteria) when it was announced yours would be a green building.

Morgan: We will not kill a single tree, in fact there will be more trees at the end of the day because we’re going to plant some all along the Ashby side of the building. There are lots of tall buildings in Houston that aren’t surrounded by dead trees.

Kirton: We’re applying for Silver LEED (Leadership in Environmental Engineering and Design) status and we’ll be the first residential building in Houston to achieve that standard.

Examiner: It’s interesting that you keep touting this as a pedestrian-driven project, considering most of the opposition has focused on potential traffic impacts.

Kirton: We did a voluntary traffic study because we wanted to know what the impacts of this would be. We hired one of the best firms in town (Traffic Engineers, Inc.) and what we found … I’ll let Matt … he’s the traffic expert.

Morgan: (chuckling) Neither one of us are traffic experts, but what the study found is that at the peak p.m. driving hour, the impact of this structure would be no more than an additional three cars per minute (either coming or going) on Bissonnet. The basic conclusion is no adverse impact on the surrounding streets, and it wont require any mitigation measures.

Kirton: In fact, traditionally, this type of mixed-use residential development has the least traffic impact (over other types of development).

Examiner: Why is that?

Both: We’re not experts.

Kirton: One reason is that a lot of residents don’t keep regular hours. Either they are doctors, who work around the clock, or they are lawyers, who work as consultants, or businessmen, who can get in the elevator and go down to their office on the sixth floor.

Examiner: What about spillover parking?

Kirton: We have exceeded the amount of parking deemed necessary according to the city by several spaces. We are also interesting in providing head-in parking similar to what they have downtown and all over the Rice Village.

Examiner: Can you address the safety concerns some Southampton residents have expressed. One woman at the Poe meeting was practically in tears as she talked about the idea of all those windows looking into her kids’ back yard.

Kirton: (High-rise) residents’ windows will be above the tree canopy, so much of what they see looking down is going to be tree cover.

Examiner: So could you honestly tell that woman or anyone else that people won’t be able to look into their yards?

Kirton: No I can’t. But I can tell her that the people who will be living here will be of the same demographic that are already in the neighborhood, and that it’s not likely they’ll be interested in spying on her family.

Examiner: Many neighbors have expressed anger over city sewer work that went on without their knowledge.

Morgan: Believe me, there was nothing (secretive) about it. We met with City Council and the mayor from July to August.

Examiner: Opponents at the Poe meeting brainstormed about what they could do to either “shame” you into backing off the project or buy you out. Is that option? You seem very proud of your project.

Both: We are.

Kirton: We have not thought about it in a shameful manner at all.

Morgan: People are fundamentally opposed to change. But we are just as passionate about this project as our opponents are against it. It’s just a different philosophy. We would be open to any conversation with Southampton residents, but it would take an awful lot (to buy us out).